Ionian Islands, a group, or rather chain, of islands, about forty in number, stretching along the west and south coasts of Greece. Corfu (Coreyra), Paxo, Santa Maura, Ithaca (Theaki), Cephalonia, Zante, and Cerigo (Cythera) are the largest. Accounts of their physical features and other particulars will be found under the separate islands. Total area, 1010 sq. m.; pop. (1879) 244,433, (1889) 238,783, the great majority of Greek descent. The surface is generally mountainous, the plains and valleys being fertile. The collective term 'Ionian' is of modern date. Previous to the subjugation of Greece by Rome the only one of these islands that rose above the historic horizon was the Corinthian colony of Coreyra. On the division of the Roman empire these islands were included in the eastern half. In 1081 Corfu and Cephalonia fell into the hands of Robert Guiscard, and from that time they had a very chequered history for three hundred and twenty years. In 1401 Corfu came into the possession of the Venetians, who in the same century acquired Zante and Cephalonia, and subsequently most of the other islands included in the group. The Venetians retained them until 1797, when they ceded them to France. The islands were seized by Russia and Turkey in 1799; and the Emperor Paul created the Republic of the Seven United Islands, under the protection of Turkey. But in 1807 they were given back to France by the treaty of Tilsit. In 1809 Great Britain seized Zante, Cephalonia, and Cerigo, in 1810 Santa Maura, in 1814 Paxo, and after Napoleon's fall Corfu; and on November 5, 1815, were formed the United States of the Ionian Islands, under the protectorate of Great Britain. While they were connected with England the government was carried on by two assemblies and the Lord High Commissioner, the representative of the British government. The rule of the successive commissioners, although directed to the construction of roads, the regulation of the systems of taxation, the establishment of educational institutions, the reform of the administration of justice, and similar public works for the furtherance of the intellectual and material welfare of the people, was on the whole arbitrary and despotic. There was permanent friction, often of a severe character, between the representative of Britain and the representatives of the islanders.
Nor did the concessions of freedom of the press, an extension of the franchise, and freedom of election (with the right of the ballot), both municipal and parliamentary, extorted in 1849 by the disturbances of Europe during the year previous, do much to reduce the friction. Insurrections broke out amongst the peasantry; the discontent with British rule increased; and the party that agitated for incorporation with Greece waxed daily stronger. In the end of 1858 Mr Gladstone was sent as a special commissioner to ascertain what could be done to meet the claims of the population. He declared against annexation to Greece. But in 1863 the election of the son of the king of Denmark as constitutional king of Greece gave England an opportunity of getting rid of this troublesome dependency. On 14th November a treaty was concluded at London by which the islands were incorporated in Greece. In February 1867 they were visited by a series of earthquake shocks, most violent in Cephalonia, where they caused great destruction of life and property, and almost destroyed the two chief towns. The islands have now no geographical unity. Cythera (Cerigo) is included in the nomarchy of Argolis. The rest are distributed among the three nomarchies of Coreyra (Corfu), Cephalonia, and Zacynthos (Zante). See works by Ansted (1863), Kirkwall (1864), Von Warsberg (Vienna, 1878-79), and Riemann (Paris, 1879).